Letters background available at Layoutsparks.com
* * *
Dear Readers,
Last year I wrote a post entitled “Instructions for Writing a Love Letter: Taking the Love Letter Oath.” To date, it’s one of the most popular posts on Steph’s Scribe. In any given week, I receive many hits on that one piece, which leaves me with a sense of hope.
People still want to write a love letter. They just need a little encouragement.
What I think is so sweet about this endeavor is the time it takes to construct one. I said it in the last post, and I’ll say it again: your ability to write something meaningful, make it look pretty on paper, and deliver it accordingly shows you put time, love, and effort into it. For a special occasion, there is nothing better.
However, it’s when there is no special occasion at all—when you send one “just because”—that it matters most. Constructing a love letter just because your heart told you to, without any other prompting, can have tremendous impact on the intended receiver.
In my novel, “Beneath the Mimosa Tree,” letters play an important role in the story. In fact, one of the letters holds the key to the turnaround of the story. As the idea of writing love letters continues to fade with our modern technology, I had to set the story in the 80s and 90s, before technology is what it is today, and when letters would still have been a believable form of communication.
However, when I was in Palm Beach, we visited a gorgeous paper store called Il Papiro on Worth Avenue. Just standing in that store, the smell of rich, Italian, handmade paper from Tuscany filling the air, made me want to pen a handwritten letter. Don’t let the art of letter writing die out completely. It still can mean something.
It means that you made the effort to write it. And, it’s a keepsake worth keeping.
